Conquest and inheritance were the reasons why the Netherlands fell into the possession of the Hapsburg dynasty, which connects Holland and Austria in historical terms. The eastern territory of the Netherlands remained occupied, and this was the cause for the Dutch fight for independence. During the reign of Emperor Charles V, the Netherlands received rights for 17 provinces, a rather large autonomy.
The son of Charles, Philip II of Spain, unlike his father was not emotionally connected to the Low Countries. He perceived himself and was perceived as alien by the local communities and, most importantly, the nobility. Philip was a staunch Catholic, and had a bad attitude towards the Reformation in the Netherlands. This fact led to a growth in the number of Calvinists. The citizens of the Netherlands were sentenced to instant death as heretics, with no regards to age or sex. This was the biggest death sentence ever given – to 3 million people – in the history of human civilization. It was an act of the Holy Inquisition. This infamous decision wasn’t carried out, rather there was a logical counteraction – a revolt. It became the reason for establishing The Seven United Netherlands (also referred to as the United Provinces of the Netherlands).
William of Orange, the father of the current Dutch royal family, led his people during the first stage of the war. The initial years were successful for the Spanish armada. However, the following sieges in Holland were won by the Dutch. The Spanish king was defeated by the Netherlands after a raid on Antwerp by revolting Spanish soldiers, killing 10,000 inhabitants. The conservative French-speaking Catholics in the east and south backed the Spanish army. The Spanish re-besieged Antwerp, as well as other key Flemish and Dutch towns. They took most of the territory in the Netherlands (yet not in the region of Flanders, which later caused the historical division between the Netherlands and Flanders). Then, in the middle of the 17th Century, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia was signed. It acknowledged the independence of the United Provinces from Germany and Spain. The Republic of Seven Provinces, which was one of the earliest proclaimed names, began to be known as Holland.
At the time of the Eighty Years' War, the Dutch provinces rose to be the trading capital of Northern Europe, Flanders came second or third (after London). The colonies of Brazil and New Amsterdam (nowadays New York) exported various types of goods. Tulips, the Dutch national flower, were the reason for the first stock market crash in 1637.
Thanks to all of this internal development, the Golden Age of the Netherlands had soon arrived. Its political system was (and still is) rather liberal, with more power invested into the aristocracy and large-scale merchants, which is a rather diplomatic principle.
The Estates-General, or Parliament, had representatives from all regions of the country. It solved national problems or those related to the Constitution. William II, the Prince of Orange’s heir, was only a baby when his father died, which led to rule by regents, always a very disturbing phenomenon for a country.
As part of an ever-continuing rivalry, England introduced Navigation Act, which badly hurt the trade interest of the Dutch. A large part of the prosperity of the Dutch was due to slavery.